Why "carnivore" type systems can't be (entirely) open source

[Brian Gladman]

----- Original Message -----
From: "David Parkinson" <dparkins@alien.bt.co.uk>
To: <ukcrypto@chiark.greenend.org.uk>
Sent: Monday, February 05, 2001 3:58 PM
Subject: Re: Why "carnivore" type systems can't be (entirely) open source


> At 03:02 PM 05-02-01 +0000, Brian Gladman wrote:
> >From: "David Hansen" <davidh@spidacom.co.uk>
> >To: <ukcrypto@chiark.greenend.org.uk>
> >Sent: Monday, February 05, 2001 9:05 AM
> >Subject: Re: Why "carnivore" type systems can't be (entirely) open source
> >
> > > On 3 Feb 01, at 23:49, Brian Gladman wrote:
> > >
> > > > And dishonest men sell broken ones with known weaknesses that are
> > > > hidden by STO.
> > >
> > > A perfect description of Lotus Notes, as was it the Swedish
> > > government found out.
> >
> >Thank you, David, for reminding us of that example.   And this of course
is
> >just one that slipped out into the open.
>
> There was no obscurity here - the Swedish Government just didn't read
> the data sheets properly.  The "feature" was publicised under the
> description "differential workfactor cryptography" and was never hidden.

Yes you are right, since I recall the debate at the time.

The surprise here is not STO but rather that any government would use
something with such a visible hole in it.

   Brian